In the past, life sciences industry has not
been given the due
attention it deserves; the industry, however, hopes to get importance
in this year’s budget

“Granting infrastructure status to the
healthcare industry has been a long pending issue, which needs to be
addressed by the government. Further reduction of taxes is needed to
incentivize pharmaceutical companies to invest more in R&D programs
for developing new drugs.”
— Dr Manu Jaggi, CEO, Dabur Research Foundation

“The Budget 2011 will benefit
pharmaceutical companies and allows them to expand on their product
portfolio by providing cost-effective healthcare options. Previous
budgets have not provided tangible benefits to the CRO industry and we
expect that trend to continue in next budget as well.”
— Mr SK Mukherjee, director, CliniRx Research

“R&D must be encouraged for the next
10 years to make India the next destination for biotech. This is indeed
a ‘knowledge industry’ and industrial biotechnology backed with
agriculture can help India proceed at same or even faster pace of
growth.”
— Mr C L Rathi, MD, Advanced Enzymes

“The budget proposals should equip India
to become competitive with other countries in the world in genomics by
providing exemptions on imports and building infrastructure.”
— Ms Anuradha Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions

“India with its tremendous know-how and
industrious human capital has become a leader in generic drug
production and R&D. The government needs to make deliberate
attempts to foster innovation in biologics to address unmet medical
needs and to unleash full potential of this promising sector.”
— Dr Alpna Seth, CMD, Biogen Idec

“Currently, the only tax benefit
available for R&D activities is in the form of weighted deduction
for in-house R&D. Benefits should be provided for units engaged in
R&D and contract manufacturing by reducing profits linked to
investments. Benefits in the form of research tax credits which can be
used to offset future tax liability, similar to those given in
developed economies can be introduced.”
— Mr Tapan Ray, DG, Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of
India

“The focus should be on increasing the
incentives provided in previous year’s budget. More tax concessions
both in corporate as well as R&D will spur innovation. The budget
for science and technology, especially in biotechnology, should
increase. Importantly, increased access to early stage funding for
biotech/pharma firms is crucial for maintaining growth and innovation.”
— Dr Satya Dash, COO, Association of Biotechnology Led
Entrepreneurs

“I expect the Union Budget 2011 to expand
the support to biotechnology-driven healthcare needs. There will be
budgetary and fiscal policy support to domains such as vaccines for
public health programs, molecular diagnostics for public health testing
and drug products that either enable lower costs of therapies or
address unmet medical needs.”
— Mr KV Subramaniam, president & CEO, Reliance Life
Sciences

“Our biggest challenge is the complex
regulatory mechanism. We hope the government will simplify it and
introduce a single window mechanism for biotech/pharma industry to
enhance development activities and time to market.”
— Dr Krishna M Ella, CMD, Bharat Biotech